One aim of many people

We are a passionate international team working to create a one-stop web service to make European archives as accessible as possible. Colleagues from all over Europe work together very closely to reach this common goal. While you might have had to visit various archival websites for your research in the past, now the Archives Portal Europe enables you to find information more efficiently from millions of archival materials held in thousands of archival institutions. This is the first time European archives have collaborated on this scale and the potential that these connections provide is enormous for both archives professionals and users.

Our mission

The Archives Portal Europe has become the 'missing link' for users worldwide who are searching for information on a vast array of topics and a 'missing link' for the European archival community itself. Two projects funded by the European Commission - APEnet (2009-2012) and APEx (2012-2015) - have provided the synergy to invest knowledge and ideas on how to give access to archival material in a digital age and on how to specifically prepare archival descriptions for an online environment. Formerly such knowledge and ideas could only be expressed in individual articles and tested in pilots or small-scale portal initiatives. The two projects have made it possible for these initiatives to emerge, not just within the group of project partners, but even more so within the broader archival community.

The Archives Portal Europe Foundation will ensure that the Archives Portal Europe and its associated network will continue to be part of this in the future not only by connecting metadata to the benefit of the end users but also by connecting archival institutions, archivists, knowledge and ideas, thereby expanding the 'missing link' into the knowledge centre for archives professionals in Europe and beyond.

How we work

The Archives Portal Europe Foundation works with two main decisive bodies, the Assembly of Associates and the Governing Board.

The Assembly of Associates is the representative and decision-making body encompassing all participants of the Foundation. It oversees the policy of the Governing Board and the general course of affairs in the Foundation.

The Governing Board is charged with the day-to-day management of the Foundation and its business and is entitled to enter into agreements with others on behalf of the Foundation, where appropriate.

The Governing Board is supported in its tasks by the Foundation Office which also functions as the first contact point for members of the Archives Portal Europe network such as Country Managers, content providers and other cultural heritage professionals interested in collaboration. The staff of the Foundation Office will be expanded step-by-step and adapted to the needs and tasks of the Foundation.